1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bottles and, more particularly, to bottles having integrally formed clips allowing the bottles to be attached to various support structures.
2. Brief Discussion of the Related Art:
Plastic bottles have become extremely popular as containers for fluids and, in particular, beverages such as water, juice, soda, tea and milk. Typically, plastic bottles are generally cylindrical in configuration and thusly receivable in conventional cup holders such as those found in automobiles, in the armrests of chairs and various other places. Also, the generally cylindrical configuration of such bottles is compatible with conventional packaging formats where a plurality of bottles are held together by packaging structure, such as a carton or a plastic carrier, in the manner of a "six-pack ". A primary advantage of plastic bottles is that their caps can be removed and replaced so that the contents need not be consumed at one time but, rather, can be consumed over a period of time. Such bottles have additional advantages including being lightweight, relatively low in cost, recyclable, compatible with high volume manufacturing processes, and adaptable to diverse packaging structure, equipment and procedures. Plastic bottles have the further attribute of being transportable. However, transportability of conventional plastic bottles is limited in that the bottles must be physically carried from place to place by consumers. Often, consumers must hand carry and hold their bottles resulting in their hands being occupied and not free for other uses. Various reusable bottle carriers that can be worn by consumers have been proposed for plastic bottles. Such bottle carriers are relatively expensive and may not fit all sizes of conventional bottles. In addition, many products, such as beverages, sold in plastic bottles are often purchased spontaneously or in other situations where the purchasers do not have access to their bottle carriers thusly precluding their use in many circumstances.
It has been proposed to incorporate structure on bottles by which the bottles can be attached to or hung from various support structures as represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,160,304 to Peacock, 3,163,332 to Boyle et al., 3,225,951 to Poston et al., 3,716,871 to Borse, 3,920,140 to Kiser, 4,747,519 to Green et al., 4,925,042 to Chong, 4,955,572 to Simmons, 5,105,958 to Patten, and 5,743,620 to Rojas et al. The Peacock, Boyle et al., Green et al., Chong and Simmons patents disclose bottles having clip or hook members formed separately from and not as part of the bottles. The Poston et al. and Patten patents disclose bottles having tongue structures for engagement in grooves or channels formed in or secured to the support structures to which the bottles are to be attached. The Borse, Kiser and Rojas et al. patents disclose bottles having clips formed integrally with bodies of the bottles and by which the bottles may be attached to or hung from support structures. The clips protrude exteriorly beyond external configurations of the bodies and are not designed to accommodate the contents with which the bottles are filled.
The need exists for clip-on bottles having bodies of generally cylindrical external configuration and clips formed integrally, unitarily with the bodies by which the bottles may be attached to or supported from various support structures, with the clips disposed within or defining part of the cylindrical external configuration of the bodies. The need further exists for clip-on bottles having bodies of generally cylindrical configuration and clips formed integrally, unitarily with the bodies, with the clips being hollow to receive the contents with which the bottles are filled.